Why 29?
It’s not that we don’t like 26” wheeled bikes. We think they are great. But we are all about choices. Choices are better than great. We feel that if you are shopping around for a new mountain bike, you will be bombarded with 26” wheeled offerings. And if you come into our store, you will see something different. We stock 29ers, right along side of 26ers. For many folks, 29ers make great sense, they just don’t know it yet. Why? Because the average bike shop is really comfortable selling you the same thing as every other average bike shop. We like to think of ourselves as above average.
That is why we are fully commited to the 29er, and everything it represents. It’s not just a big wheel, it’s a different take on the trail…

What is it?
Essentially, if you take a 700c and put a fat MTB tire on it, you have a 29er wheel. Add the necessary clearance to the frame and fork, and you have a machine that will gobble up singletrack faster than you thought possible.

For Pete’s sake why?
A bigger tire has lots of advantages, but the real stand out is grip.
The higher volume tires allow you to run less air pressure, which in turn lets the tire grab ahold of everything you are riding over, not to mention the bigger contact patch. A bigger wheel has more momentum than a smaller one. It’s easier to keep it rolling once it’s there. The larger circumference of the wheel makes molehills out of mountains. Well, not really, but bumps in the trail have a smaller effect on the larger wheel when relatively compared to a 26er. Plus the lower approach angle of the tire helps smooth things out.

What’s the trade off?
We feel there isn’t one. There are studies out there done by people with way too much free time that say that the 29er is less efficient, that it takes more energy to accelerate the big wheel, that they don’t handle as well as a 26” bike. We think this is a bunch of Hoo Haw. While there is some fact to these “drawbacks”, it is important to remember that everything is relative. Of course it takes more energy to accelerate a bigger wheel, but once it’s there, it like to stay rolling. It’s size helps it over the stuff that swallows a 26” wheel like a tic-tac. And you can’t just slap big wheels on a bike and call it a 29er. Careful geometry and good bike building skills render a capable machine that rides like a real mountain bike should.

The 29er is not for everyone however. Due to the increased overall size of the bike, smaller riders may have issues fitting a stock bike. While custom is an option for those who know, 5’4 is approaching the lower height limit.

But we’ll try our best to make it work for you, and if we can’t, hey, we can show you a 26er!